The Victorian period brought changes
in religion to the whole country. In the towns at least practically
everybody attended a church or chapel. It some parts of the more remote
parts of the countryside this may not have been so, but every parish church
had its congregation and there are tiny chapels to be found in the most
remote spot.

For
the Church of England in Wales the Victorian period saw a great deal of
rebuilding or restoring of old parish churches. In the countryside particularly
many parish churches had become run down and dilapidated
and looked more like farm buildings. During the Victorian period a great
many of these were rebuilt by Victorian architects who designed them to
fit in with the fashions of the time. Sometimes
this means there is very little left of the ancient
church that stood there before it was restored. The picture above
shows the old church at Llanafan Fechan before it was rebuilt in 1866. With
tiny windows and a ramshackled roof it must have been a dark and damp place
to worship. The picture above left shows the new church at Llanafan Fechan.

As
the number of visitors to Builth Wells rose in the 1870s, the parish church
there was restored and enlarged. The
architect was John Norton and his new church would seat 450 people. It cost
£3,700 and Thomas Thomas the owner of Pencerrig gave £1000 towards
it. Llanelwedd, Crickadarn and Gwenddwr churches were also rebuilt in Victorian
times..